Alain Robbe-Grillet

Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922-2008), French novelist and film screenplay writer. He was born on August 18, 1922, in Brest, and was an agricultural engineer before he became a writer. His purely objective fiction, in which the author does not intrude with any commentary on the characters or situation, was one example of the 1950s nouveau roman (new novel), a movement of which Robbe-Grillet was a leader. His theories were outlined in Pour un Nouveau Roman (1963; trans. 1965). Robbe-Grillet presents a view of the world as if the narrator were a film-maker simply capturing images. Surreal and often inconsistent views are presented and never explained. Characters are sometimes not given names. His novels included Les Gommes (1953; trans. 1964), Le Voyeur (1955; trans. 1958), La Jalousie (1957), Dans la Labyrinthe (1959; trans. 1960), and Topologie d’une Cité Fantôme (1976; trans. 1977). Robbe-Grillet also wrote the screenplay for the Alain Resnais film L’Année Dernière à Marienbad (1961; Last Year at Marienbad). Robbe-Grillet made his directorial debut in 1962 with L’Immortelle, a mystery set in İstanbul. His next film, in which he acted as well as directed, was Trans-Europ-Express (1966). He continued to produce similarly enigmatic films at irregular intervals, such as Belle Captive (1983; Beautiful Prisoner) and Un Bruit Qui Rend Fou (1994; Blue Villa). He died in Caen, northern France, on February 18, 2008.